Urijah Faber Reflects on When he Knew “Right Away” That Jose Aldo Was Coming For The Title

In approximately two weeks time, Jose Aldo will throw down with Conor McGregor, in what is expected to be one of the biggest fights in UFC history. While obviously it’s a massive fight because of the star McGregor has become, the fact it involves the only featherweight champ the UFC’s ever had is also huge.

Yes, while McGregor has been dominating headlines over the last year or so, it seems like Aldo has been pushed to the backburner a little bit (at least here in North America and Ireland of course…). In fact, as UFC 194 nears, McGregor and not Aldo, is the favorite.

Well, recently MMA Fighting.com ran a really interesting piece which featured several fighters reflecting on Aldo, his early days in the WEC and their bouts. Yes, it seems like everyone understood that Aldo was going to be special.

Urijah Faber was included in the story, and here is what the former WEC champ had to say about the Brazilian star:

I met Jose back in the hotel here in Sacramento when he was on the WEC card when I fought Jens Pulver. I just remember him being a really respectful guy and actually coming up, and him shaking my hand and smiling. We took a picture together. I remember I had seen some of his footage and I was thinking, you know, this guy is going to use this (photo) for motivation.

That fight, he beat ‘Pequeno’ Nogueira. He just put on, like, a brutal beating. And I knew right away, this was going to be someone coming for the belt.

That bout took place back in 2008, and Aldo took out Nogueira in the second round. It was Aldo’s WEC debut, and he went on to win six more fights before he faced Faber in 2010. Aldo battered Faber with leg kicks during their bout and won the fight via UD.